NASA sees Tropical Storm Lionrock sonsolidating

NASA's Terra satellite captured a visible image of Tropical Storm Lionrock that revealed the storm is consolidating and strengthening. Lionrock is moving through the Northwestern Pacific Ocean and away from Honshu, the big island of Japan.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite provided a visible look at Tropical Storm Lionrock on Aug. 22 at 9:40 p.m. EDT (Aug. 23 at 0140 UTC). The image showed powerful towering thunderstorms wrapping around the low-level center, with a thick band of thunderstorms extending from the north out to the east of the center. The Joint Typhoon Warning Center noted that animated multispectral satellite imagery showed a consolidating low-level circulation center with a formative eye and improved deep convective banding,

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on August 23, 2016 Tropical Storm Lionrock was centered near 27.2 degrees north latitude and 134.1 degrees east longitude, about 346 nautical miles east of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Lionrock has tracked south-southwestward at 5.7 mph (5 knots/9.2 kph). Maximum sustained winds were near 63 mph (55 knots/102 kph).

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center forecast calls for Tropical Storm Lionrock to move in a southwesterly direction and intensify into a typhoon. As it nears the island of Minami Diato Jima on Aug. 25 and 26 it is forecast to curve to the northeast.